Method of and apparatus for picking cotton



Jan. .30, 1934. R. s. CURLEY V METHOD OF AND APPARATUS FOR PICKING COTTON 4 Sheets-Sheet 1 Original Filed Oct. 8, 1927 I I /(5 ATToRNEv H Jam 30, 1934. A R. s. cuRLEY METHOD OF AND APPARATUS FOR PICKING COTTON Original Filed 001:. 8, 1927 4 SheetsSheet 2 /NI/EN7'OR ATTORNEY Jan. 30, 1934. R. s. cuR|..r-:Y 1,945,259

METHOD OF AND APPARATUS FOR PICKING COTTON 1 Original Filed Oct. 8, 1927 4 Sheets-Sheet 3 @ZZZ BY fiATToRA/E;

Jan. 30, 1934. R, s, cuRLEY METHOD OF AND APPARATUS FOR Prcxmq COTTON Original Filed Oct. 8, 1927 N 4 Sheets-Sheet 4 //v VEN TOR I Patented Jan. 30, 1934 PATENT OFFICE METHOD OF AND PICKING APPARATUS FOR COTTON .Robert S. Curley, Lowell, Mass., assignor to Saco-Lowell Shops, Lowell, Mass., a corporation of Massachusetts Application October 8, 1927, Serial No. 224,968 Renewed August 8, 1931 3'7 Claims.

This invention relates to the preparation of cotton for the carding operation and is especially concerned with the systems and processes of picking cotton and otherfibrous materialswhich 5 can be handled in essentially the same manner and by essentially the same mechanisms as cotton, and which, therefore, are herein included in the term cotton".

According to the preferred practice cotton is fed to a carding machine in the form of lap and in order to produce yarn or thread having a high degree of evenness oruniformity it is essential that the lap itself be very even. A typical lap weights forty-eight pounds and variations of less than one-half pound above or below this figure are usually considered permissible. In order to produce laps having this degree of uniformity,

however, it has usually been considered necessary to make several doublings in the picking process.

The preparation of the cotton begins with bale breaking where the bales of cotton are opened, the cotton is pulled out and bunches of cotton of different grades and qualities are thrown on to the lattice of a bale breaker, a certain mixing of the cotton being performed at this point. From the bale breaker the cotton passes through two or more opening machines and is then transferred to the picker room where it is distributed automatically to the feed hoppers of the picker machines, usually by a Morton distributor. The

cotton is conveyed from the bale breaker through the openers and to the distributor pneumatically so that no manual handling of the cotton is required between the bale breaker and the picker room.

The pickers loosen the fibre and clean the cotton. Each picker usually is equipped with a condenser and with mechanism for working the cotton into the form of a roll or lap, such a machine often being referred to as a lapper. The rolls or laps produced in the first picking operation are customarily taken next to an intermediate lapper in which the laps are unwound, the webs from four laps being superposed on each other or doubled, so that the irregularities in the individual webs are averaged and a composite web having less average variation is produced. This web is fed to the beater of the intermediate lapper. The laps made in this machine are considerably more uniform than those produced by the first picker or lapper. In an occasional mill no further picking operations are performed on the cotton but the laps go directly from the intermediate lapper to the card room. Usually, however, the laps are taken from the intermediate lapper to a finisher lapper, where they are again doubled as in the intermediate machine. This is the usual three-process picker system. It is obvious that it involves much manual labor.

The present invention has for its object to improve picker systems and processes with a view to eliminating the manual handling of the cotton between the operations of opening the cotton and producing the finished lap. In other words, the invention aims to devise a continuous picker system which will produce a finished lap automatically. I

An especially important problem with which this invention deals is that of producing automatically a finished lap having at least as high a degree of uniformity as the laps produced by prior picker processes. To this end the invention aims to devise a system inwhich the doubling operations will be performed automatically whilethe picking process continues-uninterruptedly.

The nature of the invention will be readily understood from the following description when read in connection with the accompanying drawings, and the novel features will be particularly. pointed out in the appended claims.

In the drawings,

Figs. 1 and '2 together form a side elevation of.

a picker system embodying this invention but without, however, the final unit or lapper in this system, it being understood that the right-hand edge of Fig. 2 should be considered as joined to the left-hand edge of Fig. 1;

Fig. 3 is a plan view of that part of the apparatus shown in Fig. 1 which is closest to the observer and shows more particularly the driving mechanism for the several units;

Fig. 4 is a plan view .of the apparatus shown in Fig. 2; and

Fig. 5 is an end .view of the system as seen from the left of Fig. 2.

v The system shown comprises a hopper feeder 2, Fig. 1, arranged to deliver cotton to an apron 3 which, in turn, delivers it to rolls of an evener mechanism, indicated in general at 4. From these rolls the cotton passes into a beater 5 of the first picker unit, thence through a screen section or condenser 6 to another heater '7. From this beater the cotton passes into a second screen section or condenser 8, Fig. 2, and the-web of cotton issuing from this condenser is delivered to a-folder, indicated in general at 9, Figs. 2, 4 and 5. This folder carries the web continuously to a horizontal belt conveyoror apron 10 which is arranged at right angles to the line of machines veyor belt 10.

2 just enumerated and delivers the folded web to the feeding mechanism of a finisher lapperwhich is indicated in general at 12, Fig. 5. On its way to the lapper the folded web is acted upon by an evener 13, Fig. 5, the web then passing into the beater 14 of thelapper 12 and through the condenser and calendar rolls to the winding rolls 1515 which roll up the web and produce the lap L.

In, order to avoid confusion the individual machines have been shown somewhat diagrammatically and many of the details of construction have been omitted. The particular units shown are all well known in this art so that a detailed illustration of them is unnecessary, all of those shown, with the exception ,of the folder, being machines well known on the market as those put out by the assignee of the present invention.

It is contemplated that in a typical system the cotton will be opened and delivered to the feeder hopper 2 automatically by such systems as those now employed and in which a Morton distributor is used, or more preferably by such a system as that shown in my Patent No. 1,630,375. In either of these arrangments the feed hopper 2 is provided with a fork or feeler which cooperates with the distributing mechanism to main the cotton in the hopper between substantially predetermined levels.

The two beater pickers shown in Figs. 1 and 2 will remove a very high percentage of the dirt and foreign materials remaining in the cotton after the usual bale breaking and opening operations have been performed. In addition to cleaning the cotton this picker mechanism works the cotton into the form of a web in which the fibres are loosely united and produces a suitable sheet for delivery to the folder 9.

This folder is of the type commonly known as a camel back and it includes inclined belts 1'7 and 18, Fig. 2, which deliver the web of stock to additional upright belts 19 and 20 arranged to be swung backward and forward across the con- The upper surface of this conveyor travels toward the right, as shown in Fig. 5, andin the direction indicated by the arrow in Fig. 4, at the same time that the mechanism 9 folds the web of cotton upon it. The web thus is folded'transversely of itself and also transversely of the conveyor belt 10, the lines'of fold extending longitudinally of the conveyor belt. At the same time the conveyor advances this folded web at approximately right angles to the edges and length of the original web. By adjusting the rate of travel of the conveyor belt 10 and the belts of the folder 9, a considerable variation in the degree of doubling of the web may be produced. For example, if the web 10 feeds at the rate of ten inches a minute while the folder is laying a forty inch length of web upon the conveyor, a four to one fold will be produced.

In this system, therefore, the doubling which heretofore has required manual handling of cotton, is produced entirely automatically. In addition, the fact that the web is fed to the lapper at right angles to itself is a very substantial advantage over prior doubling processes.

The evener hopper feeder 2 and the first beater of the picker controls the feed of cotton from the feeder to the picker in accordance with variations in the thickness of the layer of cotton passing through the feed rolls for the beater, this arrangement of ahopper feeder. nickerand evener being in itself '4 which is located between the well known in this art. of material advantage in reducing the irregularities which otherwise would be introduced into the web issuing from the picker. It will be seen also that important variations in thickness of the web are more likely to extend transversely across the sheet than longitudinally of it. By folding the web transversely, as above described, the web not only is doubled in a manner which averages the irregularities in a manner similar to that heretofore produced in the old three-process system, but the transverse variations in thickness are disposed longitudinally of the folded web, and the liability of registering one thin spot on another, or one abnormally thick portion of the web upon another, is reduced. In other words, the thick and thin strips lying transversely of the web are now turned at nearly right angles and are fed longitudinally into the lapper. The evener 13 thus is obliged to handle much smaller variations in thickness of the web than otherwise, would be required, and it can,

Such an arrangement istherefore, operate more accurately. This results in enabling the lapper 12 to produce a lap or roll in which the yard to yard variation is within entirely satisfactory limits.

In order further to increase the evenness and regularity of the lap, provision is made for causing the second evener 13 to exercise a certain control over the preceding mechanisms, including the first evener.

For this purpose the cotton feeding mechanisms of the units 2 to 8, inclusive, are all driven from the shaft 22, Figs. 1 and 3, on which the drum for the beater 7 is mounted. It will be observed that this shaft is connected by a belt 23 to another shaft 24 on which the conical pulley 25 of. a variable speed mechanism is mounted. This pulley is connected by a belt 26 to another conical pulley 27 fast on an upper shaft 28. A

worm, indicated conventionally at 29, is driven bythis shaft and meshes with a worm wheel 30 loosely mounted on the shaft 31. The cotton feeding mechanism between the condenser 6 and beater 7 is driven from this shaft, a clutch 32, Fig. 3, being provided for connecting or disconnecting the worm wheel 30 with the shaft 31.

Gearing shown diagrammatically in Figs. 1 and 3 connects'this shaft with a horizontal shaft 33 which serves to drive the feeding mechanism that advances the cotton from the condenser 8 to the folder 9. It will thus be seen that all of the cotton feeding mechanism associated with the units 6, '7 and 8 is positively connected together and therefore operates in unison, all of this mechanism being driven from the variable, speed mechanism including the cone pulleys 25 and 2'7. In the arrangement shown in Figs. 1 and 3 this variable speed mechanism also drives the cotton feeding apparatus of the units 2, 3, and 4.

Referring to these figures it will be seen that the shaft 28 is connected by the belt 35 to another ing between the feedrolls and the feelers. One

of these levers is shown at 40, and the belt shifter bar to which it is connected is indicated at 41.

This shifting of the belt increases or decreases the speed of the driven pulley 38 in a manner well understood by those skilled in this art.

The shaft on which the driven cone 38 is mounted carries two worms 42 and 43, respectively, the former driving a worm gear 44 which, in turn, drives the feed lattices of the hopper 2, while the latter drives a worm gear 45 which is loosely mounted on a shaft'46. A clutch 47 is provided to connect or disconnect the shaft 46 with the worm wheel 45, and the mechanism for feeding the cotton to the beater 5, including the conveyor belt 3 and the feed rolls of the evener, are all driven from the shaft 46. It will be evident, therefore, that while the evener 4 operates automatically to vary the rate of feed of the cotton to the beater 5 in accordance with the variations in the thickness of cotton moving past the evener pedals, the entire evener mechanism, and the parts controlled thereby, are also subject to the control of the variable speed mechanism from which they are-driven.

Referring to Figs. 2 and 5 it will be seen .that the evener mechanism which acts on the folded web includes the usual weight and lever mechanism, the bell crank lever 50, Fig. 5, of this mechanism being connected to the usual belt shifterbar 51, and operating to move the beltv 52 backward or forward on the upper and lower cone pulleys 53 and 54; respectively. Pivoted to the upper arm of the bell crank lever is a link 55, Fig. 2, which connects this lever with another bell crank 56. A rod 57 connects the lever 56 with an arm 58, Fig. 4, which is secured on a rock shaft 59, Fig. 2; and another arm 60 also secured to this rock shaft is connected by a rod 61 to the belt shipper bar 62, Fig. 1, that controls the position of the belt 26 of the variable speed mechanism previously referred to.

The connections just described thus enable the evener 13 to shift the belt 26 backward of forward as may be necessary to compensate for variations in thickness of the cotton in the folded web, such shifting of the belt resulting in a speeding up or slowing down of the entire movement of the cotton toward the folding mechanism 9. The control so exercised over the units 2 to 8, inclusive, is thus a general control, while the evener 4 operates independently to eifect its own control over the character of the sheet which will be delivered to the folder 9. In other 'words, the system may be considered as divided at the folder into two picker sections, each having its own evener, but the evener 4 in the first section being under the general control of the evener 13 in the second section.

The result of the arrangement provided by' this invention for driving the cotton feeding mechanisms and controlling their speed is to reduce greatly the variations which otherwise would occur in the delivery of cotton by the feed rolls of the final evener 13. and to maintain a substantially constant quantity of cotton flowing or feeding continuously into the lapper. This control so exercised over the rate of feed of the cotton at the various feeding points in the system is quite independent of the additional evening, blending and mixing contributed by the folder. 3

In addition to the control exercised by the evener 13 on the movement of cotton toward the folder, this evener; also controls the speed of the folder belts, the conveyor 10, and the feed rolls which feed the cotton from the conveyor belt'to the beater 14 of the lapper.

Referring to Fig. 2 it will be seen that the shaft 64 on which the upper cone 53 of the evener mechanism 13 is mounted, carries a worm In addition the cone shaft 64 carries another worm which drives a worm wheel 70, .Fig. 5, loosely mounted on the shaft 71 but arranged to be connected thereto by a clutch controlled by the lever 72 mounted on the upper end of the rock shaft 73. The conveyor belt 10 and the feed rolls between this belt and the beater 14 are all gear connected to the shaft 71 and driven thereby. Itwill thus .be evident that all of the mechanisms which feed cotton through the folder 9 and evener 13 are under the control of the evener and that any variation in speed produced by the evener changes the speed of, the entire mechanism, the cotton feeding mechanisms remaining in synchronism at all times. The control thus afforded over-the cotton feeding operations is such that the rate of feed of the cotton at the point where it passes over the pedals of the evener 13 and into the beater of the final lapper is maintained approximately constant, or, in other words, the variations in this rate of feed are maintained constantly within very narrow limits. Stated somewhat'difierently, the variations in the quantity of cotton between the evener roll and the pedals of the evener 13 at successive :instants is utilized to effect suitable 7 changes in the feeding rate at preceding points so as to compensate for said variations at the evening point. It will be understood that in referring to-the rate of feed at a given point, applicant means the weight of cotton passing said point in a given unit-of time.

The lapper 12 is equipped with the usual knockoff mechanism for shutting down the machine,

automatically upon the completion of-a lap. It is evident that when such a shut down occurs the entire feeding of cotton toward the lapper should be stopped. Similarly, that when the lapper is again started up the cotton feeding. mechanism should be started up simultaneously with it A further feature of this invention involves an organization whereby this result is accomplished. Referring to Fig. 5 it will be observed that the main shaft 75 from which the calender rolls and winding rolls are driven, is itself driven. by a belt connection 76 to the shaft 77 of the beater 14, this shaft, in turn, being driven at a substantially constant speed by the motor 78. The driving cone 54 of the evener mechanism 13 is mounted on a shaft 79, Fig. 5, which carries a pinion 80 meshing with an angularly disposed spiral gear 81 which is constantly driven by another spur gear fast on the shaft 75, this angular driving mechanism being like that shown in my prior Patent No. 1,397,244.

The lapper 12 includes the usual drop bar 82 which normally is held in an elevated position by a latch that is tripped automatically at the completion of the lap and allows the bar to drop,

as is well understood by those familiar with these -5 it will be seen that the drop bar 82 is connected 1929, and it is driven by a rod 87 to an arm secured fast on the lower end of the rock shaft '73. The upper end of this rock shaft carries a lever arm 72 for operating the clutch which connects the worm wheel 70 with the shaft '71. This rock shaft also is connected through a rod 88, rock shaft 89, and arm 90 to another clutch which controls the driving connection between the worm wheel 65 and the shaft 66. As above stated, the feed belts of the folder 9 are all driven from the shaft 66. Also, the conveyor belt 10 and feed rolls between it and the lapper 12 are all driven from the shaft 71. Consequently, when the drop bar 82 is tripped out and stops the lapper 12, it also results in stopping the shafts 66 and '71.

Secured on the rock shaft '73 is an arm 91, Fig. 4, which is connected by a rod 92 to a lever 93, while this lever is connected by another rod 94 to a controller arm 96 of a positively driven mechanism 97. This mechanism is of the character shown in Patent $1 1,735,135, dated November 12, by a belt connection to the v beater shaft 22 previously referred to. When the drop bar 82 is released and operates the rock shaft '73, as above described, it also operates through the connections just described to bring the mechanism 97 into action. This mechanism operates positively to move the slide 98 toward the left, and this motion is transmitted through a rod 99, Figs. 1 and 3, to an: upright rock shaft 100 carrying a lever 101 at its upper end which operates the clutch 32 to disconnect the worm wheel 30 from the shaft 31 and thus to stop the feed mechanism between the condenser section 6 and the beater 7. This movement of the rock shaft 100 is also transmitted through a rod 102 to another rock shaft 103 carrying a lever 104 which throws out the clutch 4'7 and thus stops the rotation of the rock shaft 46, from which the feeding mechanism immediately behind the beater 5 is driven. A third rock shaft 105, Fig. 3, is connected to the rock shaft 103 by a rod 106 and operates the lever 10''! of the clutch 108 through which the evener 4 drives the feed lattices of the hopper 2.

It will thus be evident that the operation of the knock-off mechanism for the lapper automatically shuts down all of the feeding mechanisms between the hopper 2 and the lapper. Similarly, when the drop bar 82 is raised again to start the lapper 12 into operation the feed mechanisms will all be started into operation again automatically. While the clutches 32, 4'7 and 108 are not operated directly by the drop bar, they are operated indirectly through the positively acting power driven unit 97, this unit having provision for automatically interrupting its own action whenever it has moved the slide 98 a predetermined distance either to the right or left.

It will now be clear that the invention provides a system in which the entire handling of the cotton between the operations of bale breaking and producing a finished lap are performed automatically and without any manual labor, the doubling as well as the feeding of the cotton from one machine unit to another being performed entirely automatically. The cotton is kept in a loose condition until the formation of the lap. While a typical system has been described and shown in connection with the disclosure of this invention, it will be understood that the invention may be embodied in systems organized somewhat differently and in which other units than those here shown are used Without departing from the spirit or scope of the invention.

All the claims on subject matter common to this application and my co-pending application Serial No. 363,586, filed May 16th, 1929 are presented in this application, the claims in the later application being confined to subject matter not disclosed in the present case.

Having thus described my invention, desire to claim as new is:

1. That improvement in methods of preparing cotton for carding which consists in subjecting loose cotton to a picking operation, working the picked cotton into the form of a web, performing an additional picking operation on said web, feeding the web continuously from the first of said operations .to the nextpmanipulating the web to direct the fibres to the second picking instrumentalities transversely to their direction of issue from preceding picking instrumentalities, working the web into the form of a lap at the conclusion of said additional picking operation, and performing said operations continuously.

2. That improvement in methods of preparing cotton for carding which consists in subjecting loose cotton to a picking operation, working the picked cotton into the form of a web, performing an additional picking operation on said web, feeding the web continuously from one of said operations to the next, and doubling the web during said feeding operation.

3. That improvement in methods of preparing cotton for carding which consists in subjecting loose cotton to a picking operation, working the picked cotton into the form of a web, performing an additional picking operation of said web, feeding the web continuously from one of said operations to the next, folding the web transversely upon itself during said feeding operation, and causing said feeding operation to advance the folded web transversely to itself to the next picking operation.

4. That improvement in methods of preparing cotton for carding which consists in subjecting loose cotton to a plurality of picking operations, working said cotton into the form of a web between said operations, feeding the web continuously from one operation to the next, folding the web transversely ,upon itself during said feeding operation, utilizing said feeding movement to advance the folded web edgewise to the next picking operation, and subjecting the cotton both before and after the operations.

5. That improvement inmethods of preparing cotton for carding which consists in subjecting loose cotton to a plurality of picking operations, working said cotton into the form of a web between said operations, feeding the web continwhat I uously from one operation to the next, folding the web transversely upon itself during the feeding thereof, feeding the cotton both before and after folding through evener mechanisms in connection with successive picking operations, and controlling the first of said evener mechanisms by the second.

6. In a picker system, the combination of apparatus for picking cotton and working it into the form of a continuous web in which the fibres are loosely united, means for feeding cotton in a loose condition to said apparatus, a folding mechanism to which said web is continuously delivered by said apparatus, and a picker lapper to which the folded web is fed continuously.

'7. In a picker system, the combination of apparatus for picking cotton and working it into the form of acontinuous web in which the fibres are loosely united, means for feeding cotton in a loose condition to said apparatus, a picker lapper, and means for doubling said web transversely of itself, and delivering the doubled web continuously to said lapper.

8. In a picker system, the combination of apparatus for picking cotton and working it into the form of a continuous web in which the fibres are loosely united, means for feeding cotton in a loose condition to said apparatus, a picker lapper, and means for folding said web and feeding it to said lapper continuously and in a direction transverse to. the length of the web.

9. In a picker system, the combination of apparatus for picking cotton and working it into the form of a continuous web in which the fibres are loosely united, means for feeding cotton in a loose condition to said apparatus, a picker lap-. per, a conveyor for feeding cotton continuously to said lapper, and a folder between said con-' veyor and said apparatus arranged to receive the cotton continuously from said apparatus and to fold it upon said conveyor.

10. In a picker system, the combination of ap-- paratus for picking cotton and working it into the form of a continuous web in which the fibres are loosely united, means for feeding cotton in a loose condition to said apparatus, a picker lapper, a conveyor for feeding cotton continuously to said lapper, and a folder between said conveyor and said apparatus arranged to receive the cotton continuously from said apparatus and to fold it transversely upon said conveyor with the lines of fold extending approximately par-' allel to the direction of travel of the conveyor.

11. In a picker system, the combination of a hopper feeder, apparatus for receiving cotton from said feeder and working it into theform of a continuous web in which the fibres are loosely united, a. picker lapper, means for folding said gles to the length of the original web, and anevener mechanism arranged to act on said folded web and exerting a control over the operation of said system. i

13. In a picker system, the combination of a hopper feeder, apparatg for receiving cotton from said feeder and workingit into the form of a continuous web in which the fibres are loosely united, a picker lapper, means for folding said web and feeding the folded web continuously to said lapper, an evener mechanism for acting on said folded web, and another evener mechanism for acting on the cotton handled by said apparatus.

14.'In a picker system, the combination of a hopper feeder, apparatus for receiving cotton from said feeder and working it into the form of a. continuous web in which the fibres are loosely united, a lapper, means for folding said web and feeding the folded web continuously to said picker lapper, an evener mechanism arranged to act on said folded web, another evener mechanism for acting on the cotton handled by said apparatus, and connections whereby the first named evener mechanism controls the operation of the second.

15. In a picker system, the combination of a hopper feeder, apparatus for receiving cotton from said feeder and working it into the form of a continuous web in which the fibres are loosely united, a picker lapper, means for folding said web and feeding'the folded web continuously to said lapper, an automatic knockoff mechanism for said lapper, and connections whereby said mechanism automatically stops the entire feed of cotton from said hopper toward said lapper.

16. In a picker system, the combination of a hopper feeder, apparatus for receiving cotton from said feeder and working it into the form of a continuous web in which the fibres are loosely united, a picker lapper, means for folding said web and feeding the folded web continuously to said lapper, an automatic knockoff mechanism for said lapper, said. mechanism being operable to start the lapper into operation again, and connections between said lapper and said knock-off mechanism and the otherv units of the system whereby the'stopping of the lapper automatically stops the feeding of, cotton through said system and the starting of said lapper automatically starts the cotton feeding operation'again.

17. In a picker system, the combination of a hopper feeder, apparatus for receiving cotton from said feeder and working it into the form of a continuous web in which the fibres are loosely united, a picker lapper, means for folding said said lapper, an evener mechanism arranged to act on said folded web, and a variable speed mechanism exerting a control over the operation of web and feeding the folded web continuously to said apparatus and itself controlled by said u evener mechanism.

18. In a picker system, the combination of a hopper feeder, a picker for receiving cotton from said feeder, a condenser associated with said picker, an evener mechanism for operating on the cotton between said feeder and picker, a picker lapper, a conveyor for feeding cotton' to said lapper, a folder between said conveyor and said condenser for receiving'the web of cotton continuously from said condenser and folding it transversely upon said conveyor for delivery to the lapper, and 12 another evener mechanism for acting on the folded web between said conveyor and said lapper.

19. In a single process picker system, the com- -'bination of a series of machines arranged to act successively and continuously on a supply of loose cotton to work it into the form of a lap, said series of machines including a plurality of pickers one of which consists of a lapper, mechanisms for feeding the cotton continuously from one machine of said series to the next, an evener mechanism mechanism and in a manner to compensate for said variations.

20. In a single processpicker system, the combination of a series of machines arranged to act successively and continuously on a supply of loose cotton to work it into the form of a lap, said series of machines including a plurality of pickers one of 1 which consists of a lapper, mechanisms for feeding the cotton continuously from one machine of said series to the next, an evener mechanism for acting onsaid cotton before it reaches the said lapper, a second evener mechanism for acting on the cotton at a preceding point in the system, and connections for causing the first evener mechanism to vary the speed of the second evener mechanism automatically.

.21. Ina single process picker system, the combination of a series of machines arranged to act successively and continuously on a supply of loose cotton to work it into the form of a lap, said series of machines including a plurality of pickers one of which consists of a lapper, mechanisms for feeding the cotton continuously from one machine of said series to the next, an evener mechanism for acting on said cotton before it reaches the said lapper, a variable speed mechanism for driving said feeding mechanisms, and connections for causing said evener mechanism to adjust said variable speed mechanism automatically in accordance with variations inthe quantity of cotton delivered to said evener mechanism and in a manner to compensate for said variations.

22. In a single process picker system, the combination of a hopper feeder, a plurality of pickers arranged in series for receiving cotton from said feeder, one of said pickers consisting of a lapper, means for feeding the cotton continuously from said hopper feeder to the first picker in the series and from oneof said pickers to the next, whereby said pickers are operative to act successively and continuously on the supply of loose cotton fed to them to pick the cotton and to form a lap, said feeding means including an evener mechanism located at an intermediate point in the system, and connections for causing said evener mechanism to control the rate of feed of cotton by the other cotton feeding means including the hopper feeder.

23. In a single process picker system, the combination of a hopper feeder, a plurality of pickers arranged in series for receiving cotton from said feeder, one of said pickers consisting of a lapper, means for feeding the cotton continuously from said hopper feeder to the first picker in the series from one of said pickers to the next, whereby said pickers are operative to act successively and continuously on the supply of loose cotton fed to them to pick the cotton and to form a lap, said means including an evener mechanism located between certain of said pickers and a second evener mechanism located between said hopper feeder and the first picker, and connections for causing the first evener mechanism to control the speed of the second evener mechanism.

24. In a single process picker system, the combination of a hopper feeder, a plurality of pickers arranged in series for receiving cotton from said feeder, one of said pickers consisting of a lapper, means for feeding the cotton continuously from said hopper feeder to the first picker in the series and from one of said pickers to the next, whereby said pickers are operative to act successively and continuously on the supply of loose cotton fed to them to pick the cotton and to form a lap, said means including an evener mechanism located between certain of said pickers, a variable speed mechanism for driving the hopper feeder and the other units for feeding the cotton from one picker to the next, and connections for causing said evener mechanism to adjust said variable speed mechanism in accordance with variations in the quantity of cotton delivered to said evener mechanism.

25. In a single process picker system, the combination of a series of machines arranged to act successively and continuously on a supply of loose cotton to work it into the form of a lap, said seriesof machines including a plurality of pickers arranged in two sections of the system, means for feeding cotton continuously from one of said machines to another, an evener mechanism in the second section for controlling the feed of cotton to one of. said pickers, and connections whereby said evener mechanism is caused to exerb cise control over the cotton feeding means in said first section.

26. That improvement in processes of picking cotton and the like, which consists in subjecting loose cotton to a plurality of picking operations and finally working it into the form of a lap, feed- 94' ing the cotton continuously from one of said operations to the next, evening the cotton between certain. of said picking operations and causing 'said evening operation to so control the rate of feed of the cotton at preceding feeding points as to reduce the variations in the rate of feed of the cotton past said points and to maintain within very narrow limits variations in the rate of feed of the cotton at the point where said evening operation is performed.

27. That improvement in processes of picking cotton and the like, which cdnsists in subjecting loose cotton to a plurality of picking operations and finally working it into the form of a lap, feeding the cotton continuously from one of said operations to the next, evening the cotton between certain of said picking operations, thickening the stream of cotton prior to said evening operation and performing said evening operation on said thickened stream, and causing said evening operation to so control the rate of feed of the cotton at preceding feeding points as to maintain the variations in the rate of feed of the cotton at the evening point within very narrow limits.

28. That improvement in processes of picking cotton and the like, which consists in subjecting loose cotton to a plurality of picking operations and finally working it into the form of a lap, feeding the cotton continuously from one of said operations to the next, evening the cotton between certain of said picking operations, condensing the cotton between certain of said operations, feedaccordance with variations in the quantity of cotton flowing past a late point in the process to compensate for said variations. 29. In a single process picker system, the combination of a series of machines arranged to act 138 successively and continuously on a supply of loose cotton to work it into the form of a lap, said series of machines including a plurality of pickers, mechanisms for feeding cotton continuously from each of said machines to the next, a variable speed 140 mechanism for driving said feeding mechanisms, and means responsive to variations in the quantity of picked cotton at an intermediate point in said system for adjusting said variable speed mechanism to cause it to maintain within very narrow limits the variations in the rate of feed of the cotton past said intermediate point.

30. In a single process picker system, the com bination of a series of machines arranged to act successively and continuously on a supply of loose cotton to work it into the form of a lap, said series of machines including a plurality of pickers one of which consists of a lapper, mechanisms for feeding the cotton continuously from each machine of said series to the next succeeding machine, an evener mechanism for acting on said cotton before it reaches the said lapper, and means under the control of said evener mechanism for driving said feeding mechanisms.

31. That improvement in processes of picking cotton and the like, which consists in subjecting the cotton to a plurality of picking operations and finally working it into the form of a lap, continuously feeding the cotton from one of said operations to the next, feeding the cotton in a loose condition to the first picking operation, maintaining the cotton in a loose condition throughout the picking process until the final operation of lapping, and causing variations in the quantity of picked cotton at a late point in the process and closely adjacent to said final picking operation to so control the rate of feed of cotton at preceding points, including the feed to the first picking operation, as to maintain a flow past said late point of an approximately constant quantity of cotton.

32. In a single process picker system, the combination of a series of machines arranged to act successively and continuously on a supply of loose cotton to work it into the form of a lap, said series of machines including a plurality of pickers one of which consists of a lapper, mechanisms for feeding the cotton continuously from each machine of said series to the next, an evener mechanism for acting on said cotton before it reaches the said lapper, a second evener mechanism for acting on the cotton at a preceding point in the system, a variable speed mechanism for driving certain of said feeding mechanisms, and connections for causing the first mentioned evener mechanism to adjust the speed of said variable speed mechanism and of said second evener mechanism automatically in response to variations in the quantity of cotton delivered to said first mentioned evener mechanism and in a manner to compensate for said variations.

33. A continuous process picking machine com prising a first picking mechanism, a second picking mechanism, a separate conveying and feeding mechanism for each picking mechanism, and means by which both of said conveying and feeding mechanisms are controlled by the thickness of the bat of fibre as it enters the second picking mechanism.

34. A continuous process picking machine comprising a first picking mechanism, a second picking mechanism, a separate conveying and feeding mechanism for each picking mechanism, means to transfer a continuous bat of fibre from the first to the second picking mechanism, and means to control the rate of feed to each picking mechanism by the thickness of the bat as it approaches the second picking mechanism.

35. A continuous process picking machine comprising a first picking mechanism, a second picking mechanism, each picking mechanism having a feeding conveyer, a conveying and feeding mechanism foreach conveyer, variable speed driving mechanism for each conveying and feeding mechanism, and a single control device eifective to change the adjustment of both variable speed mechanisms proportionately and simultaneously.

36. A continuous process picking machine comprising a first picking mechanism, a second picking mechanism, each picker mechanism having a feeding conveyer, an evener for the second conveyer, variable speed driving mechanism for each conveyer, and means to vary the speed of both conveyers proportionately and simultaneously, said means being controlled by the thickness of the bat of fibre as it approaches the second picking mechanism.

37. A continuous process picking machinecomprising a hopper feeder, afirst picking mechanism, a, second picking mechanism, each picking mechanism having a feeding conveyer, an evener for the second conveyer, variable speed 1 5 driving mechanism for each conveyer, and means to varythe speed of both conveyers proportionately and simultaneously and to proportionately vary the rate of feed of the fiber from said feeder to the first conveyer, said means being controlled by the thickness of the hat of fiber as it approaches the second picking mechanism.

ROBERT S. CURLEY. 

